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If You're A Spellchecking Firm, It Helps To Spellcheck Your Press Releases
from the just-saying dept
We're certainly not going to make fun of anyone for making typos, especially considering how often we make typos around here. However, when your entire business is based on catching typos, it has to look bad when your latest press release needs to be corrected due to a typo. The company claims its product is supposed to help companies avoid getting a "negative impression" online -- so perhaps it can now use itself as a case study. The PR person who wrote the press release claims it was his mistake, not the company's, that listed the "the 16 million we (sic) pages it has spell checked." However, even if it is the PR firm's fault, you would think that someone at the spellcheck firm would recognize the importance of spellchecking any press release before it went out (and we won't even wade into the debate over whether the press release should have said "spellchecked" instead of "spell checked"). Of course, you could point out that the typo is still a word, which is why it wasn't caught by the spellchecker, but the firm proudly notes that they go beyond just an automated spellchecker, by using human editors as well.
Reader Comments
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Could be an intentional Streisand manoeuvre...
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Aw, c'mon, give them a break. It is shocking how many clients insist that spelling "isn't that important." I have to beg them to spellcheck. And some of these are professional writers! Frankly, I'm surprised this "spellcheck company" business model floats at all. I predict they'll go under--whether anyone (else) catches the mistake or not. Because sadly, more and more, no one reads that carefully.
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Unfortunately, spell checkers don't always catch grammatical errors, hence a lot of "to" where "too" would be appropriate. The quote you listed is in no way a spell check problem.
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Spell
Andorra didn't have anything to do with it, did she?
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Funny thing is that a lot of spelling errors go unnoticed to most people. I think the the rule was that so long as the first and last letter were right, and the word was used in the correct context, 70% of the people missed the typo. I'd have to look it up. Was an interesting study.
Also people rarely noticed the use of double words on line breaks.
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fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs?
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
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Re:
Thats merely an excuse for bad spellers, that thing would certainly not work if you have never seen the word before, or if the word is over 10 letters long.
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Re: Re:
All cetuars can be dfneeid by tehir Dreoxyniboucleieoxyc aicd, mreo cmonmly konw as DNA.
It's all about words, and context
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Re:
this is why so many extremely intelegent people like me can't spell to save their lives...
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Re:
you broke the rule twice in the first 3 words you added to this e-mail that went around, the first and last letter need to be correct!
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Spell checking
The problem is that the education system has denigrated the proper use of language since the 1960's......so called progressive thinkers and the like have sought to undermine basic skills of literacy, comprehension and composition with the result that the ability to spell and or use words that exceed two syllables has been eroded. As for punctuation…..!!!
This is further compounded by the sloppy use of language in emails, blogs and other Internet communication under the guise of being ‘modern’. Interestingly, my spell check device does not recognise the word blog!
English is the most expressive, dynamic and wholly encompassing language in the world. Within its framework is the ability to articulate every nuance possible. True, it ‘steals’ from practically every language in some form or another, but this ‘theft’ merely enhances the ability to communicate.
A gifted writer leads the reader along an exact path creating images and understanding that stays long after the words have been read.
Pity then that there are few who are able to compose and even fewer who are able to comprehend.
A sad state of affairs!
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Re: Spell checking
ha ha, logic has gone out the door. It follows that if there are few who can compose, more than a few must be able to comprehend since composition is clearly more complicated than comprehension.
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Re:
It really is crazy how you can read through that at regular pace...
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You misspell web because education?
Although technically it was a spelling error,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_editing
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Re: Spell Checking
If English is the most expressive, dynamic and wholly encompassing language then how come there are Japanese words in which no English equivalent is to be found?
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Does TexTrust Spellcheck Blogs?
Mike, meet Carlos. Carlos, meet TexTrust
"India Says No Thanks To The $100 Laptop
from the priorities dept
One of the most common retorts ... to participate in Nicolas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child initiative, which wanted to sell $100 PCs to governments around the world for them to distrubute (sic) ..."
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English, the most expreissive (sic)?
I'd reply in my native language but unfortunately words fail me.
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I just had some dental work done and had to sign a pile of forms before it could happen. I ended up having to fix the spelling of about 6 words on these (presumably vetted) forms.
I also ended up unemployed a few years back and managed to collect unemployment - during this time I had to attend training (mostly watching videos) on how to get
a job (and the like). One of the classes was on writing a resume and application letters. They stressed several times the importance of spelling - and then showed an example application letter - with at least two words incorrect. Not typo style incorrect, but just plain wrong.
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spam
spam - mark that
good-bye for good
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Whooptie-freakin'-doo! I understand what's making your eyes twitch, but face it, some things fall through, and it did turn out to be a very minor thing. They knew what they did, they went out to correct the mistake and sounds like they've been doing their service to their customers just fine.
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Hey ElectricMayhem, if it's informal it doesn't matter unless you're anal
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Sad
What is sad in this story is that the one who will be fired will be the PR consultant. And the Reuters article will be used against him. Does one spell error justify to make an article and to fire a man ?
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Could one of you smart people spell out where you think the eroor is - seems to me this is a "kings new clothes" situation.
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Plain and simple
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in a rather
scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean
- neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make
words mean so many different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to
be master - that's all.'
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Koz-- read the article that this is linked too. They tell you which words were misspelled.
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Re:
I read the article from the link also. I'm confused what the problem is. Does it relate to:
"million we (sic) pages " ?
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If you mispell things, people might still understand what you write. Couse, that won't keep them from thinking that you are an idiot.
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mist-spelinges
The best example by Navy Public Works Dept. Norfolk, VA: referred to itself in their newsletter as "PUBIC Works..." so appropriate and par for the course for their upper management!
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Spelling errors for dummies...
I figured this would come up - amazing that AC was the one to ask. Here's the scoop if you can't figure it out.
The word "we" should have been "web."
The "(sic)" was added by Reuters to make sure we realized that THEY didn't just mistype the quote. Then TECHDIRT just quoted the Reuters article.
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I used to work in the tech pubs department of a manufacturing company. We'd been looking at a big desktop publishing/document management product when we got a letter from the new sales rep for our area, introducing herself. It was so full of misspellings, incorrect word use, and bad grammar that we stapled a routing slip to it and sent it around so all hands could get a laugh. Then we round filed it and never contacted that vendor again.
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Anonymous Coward - i did read the linked article, and while a lot of people have been convinced there is a problem there quite possibly isn't since it does make sense as originally written .....
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